In past years, the best place to see Fourth of July fireworks has been where the city of Los Angeles meets the county: at the end of the Marina peninsula, near the north jetty of Marina del Rey.
Crowds gathered around Venice for congenial block parties. From any south-facing roof or porch in Venice, or on the pier, or at points south, residents could see the magnificent display. It was the only one close by, since Santa Monica eliminated its beach fireworks years ago. I’ve always found the pyrotechnics to be a fitting cap to the celebration of our nation’s birthday.
This year, though, the skies will be dark over the beaches near Venice. County officials blame cancelation of Marina del Rey's fireworks on “budget curtailments.”
This is a county that made at least $18 million off Marina del Rey last year, but gave back only $1 million.
I can’t help but wonder if the cutbacks are intended by the County Supervisors to boost claims of financial insolvency – to build support for their pending turnover of public land and boat slips to developers.
Maybe if the Coastal Commission approves the plan at its meeting in mid-June, we’ll see the fireworks restored. For now, I’ll just have to settle for the .
Why is that Daddy? Because there is no money in the budget for them. Why is that Daddy? Here is part of the reason why my son: “"Welfare benefits for the children of illegal immigrants cost America's largest county more than $600 million last year, according to a local official keeping tabs on the cost. Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich released new statistics this week showing social spending for those families in his county rose to $53 million in November, putting the county government on track to spend more than $600 million on related costs for the year -- up from $570 million in 2009. Antonovich arrived at the estimate by factoring in the cost of food stamps and welfare-style benefits through a state program known as CalWORKS. Combined with public safety costs and health care costs, the official claimed the "total cost for illegal immigrants to county taxpayers" was more than $1.6 billion in 2010. "Not including the hundreds of millions of dollars for education," he said in a statement." Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/welfare-tab-children-illegal-immigrants-estimated-m-la-county/#ixzz1NUgfiukJ”
Nice priorities, folks. And to reply directly to "Tired of the Waste": It seems like your hypothetical conversation with "Johnny" would be a wonderful time to inculcate the notion that we - Americans - take care of our neighbors. And when times are tough for those neighbors, we don't waste money making pretty but fleeting lights in the sky - we clothe, feed, house, and educate our friends so they can get back on their feet again. And we do this irrespective of race or any other man-conceived method of segregating ourselves because we are all a part of the ever-more-important human race. That is what is so great about the 4th of July. It's not pyrotechnics in the sky, but the community those fireworks are meant to remind us of. It's the common struggle we all share. We'll still have that community without the fireworks - but we'll never have that community if we forget our humanity.
Yes you are right Americans should take care of of neighbors. Many of our productive citizens are hurting and we have safety nets in place to serve them. But why should we fund lawbreakers at the expense of our law abiding citizens who want to celebrate the American Dream. We do not need to support an American Nightmare coming illegally from another country. The melting pot is overflowing with red ink. This is not a racial issue but a national issue.